Drink Star Sign-Specific Cocktails At Bushwick's Mood Ring Bar

Even in Bushwick, a neighborhood with more than its fair share of hip watering holes, Mood Ring stands out for its inclusive atmosphere, cinematic decor, and, most intriguingly, its zodiac-themed cocktails.

At a glance, it looks similar to the neon store fronts of New York’s sidewalk psychics—a cobalt-blue facade glowing with pink-ish light from two illuminated words: “Mood Ring.” This is Bushwick’s buzziest new bar. A low-lit space, decorated with the work of local artists and inspired by the sultry atmosphere of Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love (2000).

Mood Ring’s owners, Bowen Goh and Vanessa Li—twenty-something Brooklynites and best friends—describe the theme of their venue as “exploring different characteristics and moods.” Everything about the place feels eclectic and zeitgeist-y. Especially its rotating cocktail specials, created collaboratively by the bartending team and inspired by the signs of the zodiac.

“We try to focus on one particular aspect of each astrological sign, since they’re all so complex and multifaceted,” explains Li. “For example, with our current Pisces cocktail, we focused on the emotional aspects of the sign and created a cocktail that is clear like tears. It’s called ‘As Tears Go By’ and it is made of cucumber-infused Aviation gin, St-Germain, rosé, lime juice, and topped off with a cute Swedish Fish side garnish. It’s a really refreshing drink and that’s because we think crying isn’t necessarily bad—it’s cathartic! Pisces season helps us remember this.”

Mood Ring stands out for its zodiac-themed cocktails

Although Li, Goh, and their circle are long-time astrology fans, the concept of star sign-specific cocktails feels very right for the moment, given that 2017 was a particularly big year for the zodiac.

Women’s lifestyle site The Cut saw traffic to star sign articles jump by an average of 150 per cent, according to a recent report by The Atlantic, titled “The New Age of Astrology”—possibly thanks to celestial happenings, like the solar eclipse, or, as Julie Beck, the reporter of the piece theorizes, as a tool for meaning-making in a stressful and unstable world. Whatever the case, millennials are into astrology in a big way, and if you’re going to look to the stars for guidance on career or love, why not let them influence your Friday night beverage, too?

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